Last in series on future of Big 5, looking at future of the entity itself | Mike Jensen

Let’s stipulate up front. The Big 5, one of the great inventions in the history of sport, a treasure right here in this city, right now as a collective entity is irrelevant.

These days, the Big 5 is more a nostalgic artifact than a breathing source of civic pride. If you are of the age where the mere mention of the Big 5 conjures up thrilling evenings sitting at the Palestra watching stirring doubleheaders … fantastic, keep those memories alive. But I’ve been working in this city for almost 33 years. Palestra doubleheaders were gone when I got here. (Connie Mack Stadium was a cool place to watch a ball game, I hear.)

Right now, the games are played, but that’s all they are ... games.

So that’s it, as the other locals have struggled to keep up and some have dipped badly while Villanova has risen to the national stratosphere, kiss it all away …

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… Not so fast. This is, in fact, a perfect time to reinvent the Big 5, to get it going anew, to create something that would make other hoop-centric cities jealous, just as the round-robin City Series once did.

What should be done is not a new idea, it’s just the right idea for the present day. A Big 5 tournament, crowning a yearly Big 5 champion.

Don’t believe me? John Giannini is an outsider, from Chicago, who became a Big 5 steward, as La Salle’s coach. Loves the Palestra with a convert’s passion.

Playing Big 5 games, split crowds … “unbelievable events,’' Giannini said.

But …

“Here are the issues that should be recognized,’' said Giannini, who is now Rowan’s athletic director.

Some of it is about stewardship. There used to be a Big 5 executive director, with John Nash and then Dan Baker and later Paul Rubincam in the spot. That may seem like a small detail, but getting rid of that position, trading the duties between each school, having the athletic directors rotate being the lead of it, sure it saves a salary. Essentially, having everyone being in charge means nobody is in charge. Plus, all those people are busy already.

That extends to marketing potential.

“I can’t see where you can get Big 5 gear,” Giannini said, adding that the bigger Big 5 events tend to come up on anniversaries. Hey, it’s been 60 years, let’s have a doubleheader, something like that. Great atmosphere, streamers, etc.

“Then it was decided not to do it again for another 10 years,’' Giannini said. “It doesn’t even feel right to say that.”

Even if you’re just talking about the full round-robin of games being wedged into schedules on random dates … Villanova trying to get them all in during December, the other schools going for all sorts of dates … wait, which La Salle-St. Joe’s game is the Big 5 game again?

“That’s not marketing yourself,” Giannini said of the current deal. “That’s not special.”

There’s no doubt that winning more basketball games is the most important thing the rest of the Big 5 schools can do to create more buzz. Penn beating Villanova and sweeping the 2018-19 was a big deal for the Quakers.

But a one-week tournament, that could be special. And helpful on a number of fronts.

“Recognize that Villanova is different -- just admit it,’' Giannini said. “They’re closer to Duke right now than the other Big 5 schools.”

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Let’s give Villanova a little credit here on the stewardship front. Everyone involved recognized that when Rollie Massimino decided his scheduling needs meant the Wildcats would only play half a round-robin, two games weren’t much different than none. More than schools leaving for home sites, that move on the number of games was a Big 5 crusher. The school recognized that under Steve Lappas and went back to playing the four others every year. Jay Wright has kept with the tradition.

“They need some breathing room,” Giannini said, referring to scheduling.

What he means, while Wright has no interest in being a Big 5 killer, he would probably jump for joy if only two games were on the schedule instead of four.

The tournament format is clean and obvious … welcome to the Big 5, Drexel.

Really? Now it’s the City 6? No, it’s the Big 5.

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“You can add Drexel and still call it the Big 5,” Giannini said. “The Big 10 has more than 10 schools. The Atlantic 10 has more than 10 schools. The Big 12 isn’t 12 schools.”

The man has a point. In a round-robin, Drexel is a no-go, because each school playing the five others just isn’t going to happen. Also, the City 6 is good for identifying purposes, but it has zero cache. Keep the Big 5.

It was argued to me years ago by old-guard Big 5 stewards that Drexel shouldn’t be added to their club since their school wasn’t even trying to play at the top level of hoops back when the Big 5 was building collective equity with great teams on the national stage. I bought that. That was all true, even 20 years ago.

Now, the answer would be … what collective equity?

“The importance has been diminished every year in the basketball community,” Giannini said. “Tell me one thing that is being done to emphasize it.”

A tournament could do it. Adding Drexel isn’t being done for civic reasons so much as to make the tournament clean. Two schools get byes every year, the other four play, then you have semifinals and a final. Villanova doesn’t automatically get the bye but if you based it on the final NET rankings from the season before, you’re in business.

First round, give the higher NET team a home court. Same for the semifinals, with first-round losers playing each other. The final could then be at the Palestra, with a third-place game. Ask the NCAA for a waiver so that three games would only count as two. St. Joe’s and La Salle could still schedule a separate game as an Atlantic 10 game.

When to have it? December seems obvious. In 2019-20, Villanova knocked out three Big 5 games from Dec. 1-7, Sunday to Saturday. Let’s say that’s a pretty good window. Earlier in November, at the start of the season, or around Thanksgiving, you run into attractive times for tournaments and good TV dates for all the schools. Maybe closer to Christmas is even better, whatever works. Just have it in one clean little window.

“Let’s leverage the power of Villanova, too,’' Giannini said. “If you did a City Series tournament kind of thing, listen, if Villanova is in, it’s going to be on national television.”

What’s the down side? Letting Drexel fully in the club? Please. The Dragons played La Salle and St. Joseph’s this past season, lost to the Explorers, beat the Hawks. A 70-62 season-opening loss at Temple in 2019-20 didn’t suggest a game that should never be played again.

Giannini talked about the sense of community that is special at the Palestra, that it was a big deal for his players, including the out-of-towners. For fans, sure, get there early, meet friends. The Philadelphia Catholic League semifinals and finals have kind of moved in as the modern-day Palestra yearly pilgrimage, electric evenings in the old barn.

It’s time to add some yearly juice into this other local basketball jewel, to shine up an antique relic, make it relevant again.

Maybe somebody would even print up a few T-shirts.